Editorial: Incompetent Pevkur Must Leave Office

A new defense scandal has exposed what Postimees describes as a failure of leadership: Estonia paid tens of millions of euros in advance to Datasel S.R.L., a company with no previous experience producing artillery shells. The company’s delivery began to slip, and Ukraine still has not received the shells it was promised.

The money did not come directly from Estonia’s state budget, but that does not lessen the responsibility, the editorial argues. The contract was signed by the State Defence Investment Centre, known by its Estonian initials RKIK. When problems emerged, the institution did not subject its own actions to closer scrutiny. Instead, it transferred additional millions.

Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur gave a vague response when Postimees asked whether he would resign, saying that every minister’s term ends one day. The editorial portrays Pevkur as a politician who has survived repeated criticism, but says that patience now appears to be running out. Coalition partner Eesti 200 and Social Democrats, who sometimes support the coalition from opposition, have also issued critical statements. The prime minister may therefore be preparing a broader government reshuffle.

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to preserve the credibility of Kaja’s government and the quality of leadership in the defense sector

Postimees recalls that Pevkur faced calls to resign two years ago, after former parliamentary defense committee member Kristo Enn Vaga said he should step down to preserve the credibility and management quality of Kaja Kallas’s government in defense matters. Former Defense Ministry Chancellor Kusti Salm had also left after publicly criticizing the sector’s leadership and financing.

The editorial says the immediate task for any new defense minister or ministry chancellor would be to rebuild public trust. It argues that problems identified by the National Audit Office a year earlier were not taken seriously enough. In its view, the Reform Party’s promise of “steady hands” in economic and defense policy has collapsed, and Pevkur should give way to someone more competent and accountable.

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steady hands